Thanks to South Africa's consistently firing lower middle order, de Kock knows it is okay to start off slowly. The desire to bat longer is clear, and the method is to somehow get past the early movement. When batting first this year, he has struck at just 4.61 an over in the first powerplay, having gone at 6.09 and 5.44 in the same phase in 20. It has allowed de Kock to perhaps go back to his original style. South Africa have developed a strategy where they want to give their power-hitting lower middle order not much more than 20 overs to cause havoc in. From 2018 to 2022, he didn't have a single year with more than one ODI century, but his strike-rate over that period (98.78) was higher than it had been before (94.62).Īnd then came 2023. In the middle chunk of his ODI career, though, de Kock became more of an enforcer and less of a long-innings player. When de Kock first announced himself with three centuries in a week against India late in 2013, back when he was almost the Simba the senior players loved to hold aloft, he was - despite his methods and scoring areas - an old-fashioned ODI opener, who would start off watchfully and look to play deep into the innings. It is almost impossible to imagine Quinton de Kock getting so expressive, but in his last World Cup, right at the end of an international career in which he has perhaps felt trapped like Montana at times, he has brought out his own, actual little friend: a desire and a method to bat long. When he knew it was all over, Tony Montana pulled out the machine gun and said the legendary line, "Say hello to my little friend." Old-fashioned method fuels de Kock's century spree You have reached a degraded version of because you're using an unsupported version of Internet Explorer.įor a complete experience, please upgrade or use a supported browser
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